Every year on March 17, people the world over celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by donning their best green clothes and accessories and tossing back a green-tinted beer or two. But do you really know why we celebrate this Irish holiday?
What makes St. Patrick so special?
Even though this holiday is now a lighthearted, mostly secular celebration of Irish culture, it has distinctly religious roots--and in fact, St. Patrick was a pretty serious guy. Born in Scotland in the year 387, St. Patrick was captured by Irish raiders when he was a young teenager, and he spent six years as a slave on an Irish sheep farm before escaping. He then dedicated the next dozen years of his life to a Catholic monastery in Britain.
After being ordained as a bishop, he began to travel around Ireland as a missionary, working to convert the pagan Irish to Catholicism. Not only was he very successful, but he managed to convert almost all of Ireland by the time of his death in 461 AD.
Even though his early life in Ireland was as a slave, he grew to love the Irish people during his missionary travels. He became dedicated to them, and they returned the favor by making him their patron saint. Since March 17th is believed to be the date of his death, that date became St. Patrick’s Day, a national holiday where the country’s culture, history, and legends are celebrated.
3 Birds Auto St. Patrick’s Day Fun Facts
- Busting the corned beef myth. Contrary to popular belief, corned beef is not on the St. Patrick’s Day menu in Ireland--at least not unless it’s being served to tourists.
- Green wasn’t always the color of St. Patrick’s Day. Long ago the color associated with St. Patrick wasn’t green, but blue. Irish folklore holds that green is worn by fairies and signifies new life and healthy crops. There are some Irish who actually feel that wearing the color green is unlucky because it represents dark times in Irish history when they were severely oppressed by the English.
- St. Patrick and the snakes. Although Irish legend claims that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, the truth is that the Emerald Isle never had any to begin with. The other truth is that snakes became an analogy in the legend representing the pagans that St. Patrick converted to Christianity.
- What about the shamrock? The shamrock has a sacred place in Catholic and Irish lore, and shamrocks have long been associated with St. Patrick, who is believed to have used the three-leaf variety to explain the Holy Trinity. Today, the four lucky leaves are said to represent faith, love, hope, and luck.
- Irish children wear badges of orange, green and white. By wearing the colors of their national flag, Irish children remind their nation that religious tolerance should not be forgotten after many years of violence. Orange represents the Protestants, green the Catholics, and white, their hope for continued peace.
However you celebrate, the team here at 3 Birds Auto hope you have a very happy--and safe--St. Patrick’s Day. As they say in Irish, Sláinte agus táinte! (Health and wealth!)
